Who do we like the least?

[charlie linkbox]

I suppose the word "hate" needs to be defined in order to conduct a proper poll.

I loathe the team from the next parish on the field and always want to see them beaten. Off the field however some of them are good mates.
I abhor British foerign policy and their continued occupation of a section of our country. I have no problem with the ordinary man from Britain who goes about his business to make ends meet in much the same way as I do though.
The referee will always make bad decisions against my team. It's a fact of sport for everyone, so I think it's a bit harsh to HATE him for it.
I may not be interested in another sport, may perceive it as a threat to my own, or may even be envious of some aspects of it; but I don't let sport play such a role in my life as to let it consume me with HATE. It is only sport after all.

I don't hate anyone. Still, I can't say I like Scotstown either.

[never kickt a ball]

Nice one charlie. Hate the nail on the head there!!!

[charlie linkbox]

I'd wrath-er we didn't go down this avenue NKAB.

[never kickt a ball]

I was agreeing with you're a-version Charlie but you know what dis-like.

[Blacksheep]

Hates a bit strong but I go with POGs line. It's the Bristish establishment I hate. Not Irish Protestants or English/Welsh people.

[dubnut]

Why not replace "Hate the most" with "like the least" on the poll to avoid such misunderstandings and outrage?

[rosnarun]

"Foreigners", "Immigrants", "Travellers" or even "Blacks" or "Jews"? 

just a small point hope its not too political. the reason none of the above are in the poll is that the didn't come and try and come here murdering,raping, looting pillaging and claiming to to have a god given right to own the plavce and refuse to leave after 800 years
hope this clears that up

[Evil Genius]

Jesus EG if you think those things amount to a bad reaction you've lived a very sheltered life.  I have had a lot worse said to me (and it's not as if I bring it on myself)  and so has a lot of others.
I think you'll also find when nationalists (for the want of a better word) refer to the "brits" they aren't talking about the protesant/unionist people in the north nor are they talking about ordinary English people  or the scots or the welsh, they are refering the British army and British rule in Ireland.  But I suspect you already knew that.

I have, indeed, been called a hell of a sight worse, but as I indicated earlier, it doesn't "hurt" me in the slightest! What I was alluding to was not the personal nature of any abuse (which on this thread has been unremarkable); rather, it was the implication that I have no "right" to comment or venture an opinion, either because I am not a keen GAA fan, and/or because I hold a different political outlook to the great majority on this Board.
To which I say: "Fair enough", it's a free country. However, as an outsider, it really doesn't project a welcoming image for "non-conformists" and is contrary to the official face of GAA, which likes to think of itself as being open to all.

On your second point ("Brits" = Army/Establishment etc), I'm sorry, but I can't let you get away with that, since it is for me to determine what I am, not you! Now, you may think I'm deluded/ weak/ idiotic/pitiable etc for choosing to characterise myself as "British", but so be it, since that's what I am.
You have no more right to tell me that I am not British, than I would have to tell any of my friends and neighbours in NI that they cannot be Irish (i.e. that they must somehow only be Brits).
Which is really the crux of my whole objection to this thread - when people post that they "Hate the Brits", notwithstanding that it is hardly an entirely serious exercise (since revised), I am merely trying to point out that there are almost one million of their fellow Irishmen and women sharing this island with them, who most decidedly fall within that category.
We were not parachuted in and we're not going to leave; we're every bit as Irish as anyone else, regardless of whether anyone else recognises that, including the GAA.
In fact, the only difference is that politically speaking, we prefer to live in one constituent part of the Union, along with the English, Scots and Welsh.
And as far as I'm concerned, it is a weakness of the GAA that it continues to maintain this "political qualification" (i.e. Irish = Nationalist), into the 21 st Century, when old quarrels may safely be consigned to the history books.

[lynchbhoy]

Which is really the crux of my whole objection to this thread - when people post that they "Hate the Brits", notwithstanding that it is hardly an entirely serious exercise (since revised), I am merely trying to point out that there are almost one million of their fellow Irishmen and women sharing this island with them, who most decidedly fall within that category.

and

We were not parachuted in and we're not going to leave; we're every bit as Irish as anyone else, regardless of whether anyone else recognises that, including the GAA.

a bit contradictory is it not - professing to be both?

also in my exp- a large slice of English (british) people dont view NI folk as british...
apart from when it comes to gathering up sports teams

I think this thread has become misleading with the 'brits' category put in as a partial jest
the question is I believe - 'who in GAA circles do you not like'....
even though it doesnt specifically state that (but being on the GAA discussion part, I dont think that anyone should be reading anything else into it )

[dubnut]

You are thinking way too much into this thread Evil Genius.
You made your points and they are noted, now let it go.

[Evil Genius]

Is the GAA really so "parochial", metaphorically as well as literally

the GAA is somewhat "parochial" in the best sense of the word. The GAA is based on people who have pride in their place. This doesn't fit well people who don't identify with the place they are associated with. Irish people who regard themselves as British, French or whatever, despite having no particular connection to Britain or France, have a rather different attitude than GAA members generally. You can criticise the GAA for its devotion to its founding values, although in fact the GAA evolves all of the time.  However a community who think of themselves as British because their ancestors came from Britain 400 years ago can hardly throw stones in regard to concern with outmoded values.

I'm sorry, Armaghniac, but you don't seem to have any understanding of the concept of "Britishness". It is not a question of ancestry, or ancestral birthplace i.e. I am British because my ancestors came from what is now Great Britain.
Such a construction is so shot full of contradictions, weaknesses and anachronisms as to be irrelevant to the present situation.
For example, if my ancestors came over at the Plantation 400 years ago, is that too recent(!) to count as against someone whose ancestors came over with the Normans? Or the Vikings? Or, dare I say it, with the Gaelic tribes who marched westwards from Central Europe, until they arrived in Ireland, where they assimilated the earlier inhabitants they found there?
What if one side of my family is "Planter", but the other Gael? Where do e.g. Gerry Adams or John Hume, with their impeccably Planter names, come in? How does "Britishness by ancestry" work when many of the ancestors in question migrated from England or Scotland to Ireland a century before the Union even existed?

Quite simply, I am an Irishman (more specifically a Northern Irishman) who is British, since my birthplace is one of the four constituent parts of the United Kingdom. This does not make me "English" (or Scottish or Welsh, for that matter), nor does it make me any less Irish, either.

Now you and others may not wish to buy into this concept - fair enough, that is your right. But the self-same right which you would proclaim not to be British, despite coming from part of the UK (Armagh, I assume), is exactly the same right that I use when I say I am British. I just happen to be one of those Brits who comes from NI, as opposed to E, S or W.

In this sense, it is no different from e.g. a Frenchman proclaiming his "Frenchness" has in no way been diminished or altered by virtue of France being part of the European Union (there's that word again). Or somebody from the Irish Republic, or even an Irishman from Northern Ireland, being any less "Irish".

Which is where the GAA comes back in. As far as that organisation is concerned, the only kind of Irishman or woman they recognise is one who also espouses a Nationalist, or Republican, political outlook. Fair enough, it is entitled to do so, if it wishes.
Personally, I think it a pretty "poor show" for a sporting organisation to cling onto such an anachronistic position into the 21st Century, when just about every other sport in the world has moved far beyond such parochial considerations, but so be it.
Of course, until it faces up to this, it is going find it extremely difficult to attract the other (Irish) tradition on this island. Personally, I accept it is entitled to remain this way if it wishes, whether out of antagonism or indifference.
However, I just wish they would stop trying to proclaim that they are an organisation for all Irish people. By their very Constitution and ethos, by their practices of identifying themselves with partisan political figures (e.g. stadia, clubs, tournaments etc named after contemporary Republican activists) and by their determination to cling onto the principles of their 19th Century founders in the face of contemporary demands, they prove daily that this simply is not the case.

Which is only the point I was trying to make when I took mild exception to the Poll which sought to have a wee dig at the "Brits".

Anyhow, its Friday afternoon and I should be starting the build up to joining my fellow Irishmen and women when they go to stick one onto a bunch of Brits on the rugby field at Reading tomorrow (Ulster v London Irish, to be precise!) 

[Evil Genius]

"Foreigners", "Immigrants", "Travellers" or even "Blacks" or "Jews"? 

just a small point hope its not too political. the reason none of the above are in the poll is that the didn't come and try and come here murdering,raping, looting pillaging and claiming to to have a god given right to own the plavce and refuse to leave after 800 years
hope this clears that up

As I indicated in my previous post, I am now to busy to respond to this. I suggest you take it up with Dermot McMorrough. 

Anyhow, I hope your weekend is a good one, whichever century it's in...

[dubnut]

Thank jesus.

[dubnut]

According to the poll "the brits" have shot to number one at 42% !

[dubnut]

"by their practices of identifying themselves with partisan political figures (e.g. stadia, clubs, tournaments etc named after contemporary Republican activists) and by their determination to cling onto the principles of their 19th Century founders in the face of contemporary demands, they prove daily that this simply is not the case"

Ok, so should we change the stadium names and club names to suit you?

And while we are at it should we change the names of the streets and train stations named after these Irish heroes?

Please also explain the "contemporary demands" they are ignoring. And please for the love of god keep it short!